FTP-MD: Take action against Supreme Court power grab
Charlie Cooper
Colleagues, Please circulate the action items below to your lists. I'll let you know when a meeting is scheduled. - Charlie
February 26, 2024
Supreme Court poised to grab more power on behalf of billionaires
The Supreme Court is on a mission to eviscerate the authority of federal agencies to issue regulations to protect the safety, health, and financial stability of working-class people. Recently, for example, the Court:
- Disallowed student loan forgiveness despite explicit statutory language allowing the Department of Education to make modifications. (Biden v. Nebraska)
- Used a right-wing formulation called the "major questions doctrine" to scuttle the EPA's Clean Power Plan regulations. "These regulations, the justices were obliged to acknowledge, were textually authorized by the Clean Air Act’s explicit command to deploy the 'best system for emission reduction.'” (The New Republic)
- Issued the highest percentage of pro-business decisions in the history of the Court. (Axios)
Now, the Court seems poised to rescind its own doctrine of deference to federal agency expertise -- one authored by Clarence Thomas, no less. In Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo a group of herring fisherman asked the Court to overturn a rule by the National Marine Fisheries that places the cost of safety inspections on the fishermen. The New York Times reported that "The lawyers who represent the ... fishermen are working pro bono and belong to a public-interest law firm, Cause of Action, that discloses no donors and reports having no employees. However, court records show that the lawyers work for Americans for Prosperity, a group funded by ... the chairman of Koch Industries and a champion of anti-regulatory causes." Although two lower federal courts upheld the rule, observers of the oral argument on January 17 expect the Court to overturn the rule and jettison the 40-year precedent set in Chevron v. NRDC. (Scotusblog)
Clarence Thomas luxuriates with a cigar. His billionaire
buddy Harlan Crow is at the far right and dark money mastermind
Leonard Leo is 2nd from left.
All of this occurs with the backdrop of popular dissatisfaction with the Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade and in the wake of a seemingly endless stream of corruption stories. The Court issued a toothless ethics protocol that only heightens the sense among the citizenry that the Court rules on behalf of its wealthy benefactors.
Take Action
Why did "conservative" justices support deference to federal agencies 40 years ago and why do they seek to dismantle it now? Forty years ago, Reagan was President, and the establishment was glad to have his appointees refereeing between public and business interests. Now, key corporate leaders want to "dismantle the administrative state" and to substitute the opinions of the 6-3 right-wing majority on the Court for the those of public servants with subject-matter expertise.
Yes, it's political, but that means that our opinions matter. Chief Justice Roberts has sometimes shown himself to be attuned to calculating how far the Court can go beyond public opinion. Please sign this petition supporting Congressional action to reform the court by passing the TERM Act establishing 18-year limits for justices (after which they would continue on the Court as "senior justices" with reduced duties).
Senate can subpoena Leonard Leo
Leonard Leo established and runs a vast network of 501(c)(4) "nonprofit" organizations that do not reveal their donors. The network identifies and grooms promising young right-wing lawyers and lobbies to get them appointed to the federal bench and the Supreme Court. They endow law school chairs and invent new right-wing legal doctrines in their think tanks. They've been amazingly successful, and now, after having spent hundreds of millions in this effort over the decades, they have a war chest of nearly $2 billion.
Leo has used these "nonprofit" groups to funnel more than $100 million to his own for-profit consultancy over the decades.
Several months ago, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair, Dick Durbin said he would subpoena Leo and also billionaire Harlan Crow, but it hasn't happened. Let's keep the pressure on Durbin to hold Leo and Crow accountable in full public view.
Announcements
Join Indivisible Howard County on Tuesday, February 27, 7:00 pm, for a live virtual event with Mark Lautman, voting rights activist and volunteer with the Maryland chapter of the National Rank the Vote Organization, to learn about ranked-choice voting.
Register
here for the event.
GMOM supports trying ranked choice voting as a way to increase meaningful participation and electoral competition, reduce polarization and negative campaigning in the political process, and, finally, lead to better expression of voter preference. It has been used successfully in American cities and states for years. And this year, for the first time, there is a bill proposal to introduce RCV for Board of Education elections in Howard County.
Mass Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Moral March to
State House Assembly in Annapolis
Start: Saturday,
March 02, 2024 11:00 AM
End: Saturday, March 02,
2024 2:00 PM
Lawyer's Mall, 100 State Cir, Annapolis, MD
21401
Host Contact Info: march...@marylandppc.org
Register
Last Week Tonight: Noted Constitutional scholar John Oliver offered a modest proposal (with apologies perhaps owed to Jonathan Swift) to ease the corruption scandal at the Supreme Court. Will Clarence Thomas receive a brand new $2.4-million Prevost Marathon motor coach or will he choose Door number two?
APNews: A far right group hawking voter fraud myths has admitted in a Georgia court that it had no evidence to back up its claims. The Georgia Board of Elections "... subpoenaed True the Vote to provide evidence that would assist it in investigating the group’s ballot trafficking allegations," but the group stated in court that it has "no such documents in its possession, custody, or control."
GMOM and For the People -- Maryland teleconference
Meeting TBA
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Onward together,
Charlie Cooper
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Get Money Out - Maryland · Baltimore, MD 21209, United States
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Charlie Cooper
WIth regards to Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, there is a great new technology that could solve this problem without the additional burden on fishermen. The government is going to put these people out of business because they are too bureaucratic to implement the technology that will solve the issue without the required human power, which makes them too uncompetitive internationally. Maybe instead of overturning the Chevron case, they should push to get the government to operate in a way that doesn't cause the problem they are trying to solve.